Stucco Buildings

[adma]

The woman on the left may look more natural and warm to you, but there are women who naturally might look more like the woman on the right, maybe having more symmetry, higher cheekbones, bigger lips, etc... If you didn't know what she looked like before, her face doesn't scream plastic like her chest does, or like some other famous facial upgrades have looked like. Aside from the dyed blonde hair, I think the woman on the right would be more attractive to more men, with or without make up.

Well, sort of like the subject matter of this thread--EIFS classicism being deemed more attractive than "grimy" "dated" old facades. All it proves is that too many men are tasteless, destructive douchebags--if I was a woman looking like the former and a guy insisted I alter myself to look like the latter, he'd be divorced of his testicles in no time.

Of course, Heidi's "before ugliness" wouldn't have been such a talking point were she not under the reality-TV spotlight; but honestly, in the egalitarian non-reality-TV real world, such looks (and I'm not talking about the person behind the looks) would be accepted, taken in stride. Or at least once would have, before commonplace plastic surgery and gossip snark sites aplenty skewed the picture. The latter, by comparison, may have the superficial attributes (much like EIFS classical detail is a "superficial attribute"); but it's a novocained and false application of said attributes. Really: give me the former.

"Novocained and false". EIFS = architectural Botox. And remember what I like to say: if you think the Sheraton Centre is a monumental concrete eyesore, imagine it "improved" through the Classicizing of the porte-cochere being carried throughout the whole exterior and you just might wind up feeling protective of its existing so-called concrete eyesoreness...

 

[ambleDexterous]

Of course what we're talking about here isn't really stucco but EIFS, the dreaded Exterior Insulating Finishing System. Stucco is basically a kind of finishing cement. It can look good if done well. It's not really a good choice for our climate however since it will not weather well with our extremes of temperature and humidity.

EIFS, on the other hand, is a kind of plastic foam that hardens into a gross, tacky finish that-no matter how it's done- can't make a building look like anything else other than a retail concession at Canada's Wonderland. It is functional however. And we live in a town where the utilitarian attitude to architecture definitely prevails.

I am eternally grateful that I now know the correct term. I feel polluted for having played into the hands of those who manufacture this odious crap. I would like to suggest to those who also loathe this finish, to refer to it as foam, always.

 

[Marko]

All it proves is that too many men are tasteless, destructive douchebags--if I was a woman looking like the former and a guy insisted I alter myself to look like the latter, he'd be divorced of his testicles in no time.

You're aware that no one forced her to do any of it, right? She's gone public with the fact that it's entirely her 'thing'.

Just to be clear - I never said she was ugly to start out with, either - only that there was probably better before-after examples than the one you chose.

 

[Urban Shocker]

It may be her thing, but it is an artless thing born of male fantasies. A much more interesting and creative appropriation of the power of plastic surgery to express what transformations women are capable of by going under the knife is Orlan's thing:

http://www.orlan.net/

 

[Marko]

It may be her thing, but it is an artless thing born of male fantasies.

Women do things - like platic surgery - for the approval/envy of other women far more than they do things for the approval of men. Big boobs notwithstanding.

 

[Mississauga Slim]

I am eternally grateful that I now know the correct term. I feel polluted for having played into the hands of those who manufacture this odious crap. I would like to suggest to those who also loathe this finish, to refer to it as foam, always.

Here's a link for you that goes into more detail: http://www.eifs-inspections.com/eifs_primer.html

 

[junctionist]

Stucco is also a last-ditch tool of preservation. A badly deteriorated brick facade can be strengthened and covered with stucco, but it shouldn't come to that. Stucco can be done well, but the architectural features like cornices and trim have to be preserved with precision in the new design. They can then be accentuated with a tastefully contrasting colour. As one might notice in any European city with old buildings covered in crumbling stucco, stucco can be used to enrichen a building facade, for instance by adding new textures like a faux-stone block foundation over a simple brick wall. But in Toronto, it seems to only be applied in a way that simplifies facades and makes them blander or even ugly. Toronto is a city of brick because we have produced great brick and our buildings have mostly been designed with brick in mind. In most cases, it's better not to cover them with stucco.

 

[adma]

Women do things - like platic surgery - for the approval/envy of other women far more than they do things for the approval of men.

Which, in the end, makes it no less "an artless thing born of male fantasies"--especially these days, and especially in this case.

The weird thing about this thread is how it manages to ratchet an off-topic subject into something collaterally *on* topic, at least by way of metaphorical parallels...

 

[Bogtrotter]

That is weird...how did all this fake boobs stuff get started on this thread anyway

Whatever happened to pebbledash- you don't see nearly enough of that anymore. When I lived in Britain half the houses seemed to be pancaked with it- especially the estate housing.

 

[Urban Shocker]

It was quite fashionable in Georgian England to brick in the fronts of Tudor and Mediaeval houses, eliminating the overhangs, and to change the placement of doors and windows to make them symmetrical and neo Classical ... and sometimes render them with pebbledash. The interior walls of early English churches, which were as decorated with brightly painted frescoes as those on the continent before Henry VIII's Protestant goons, Cromwell's dreary Puritans, and Victorian era evangelical Mock Goths had them whitewashed over, or parged, and much of their interior decoration ripped out were quite lovely.

For local interior stucco in a lovely grey/buff colour, check out Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's beautifully proportioned, restrained, Trinity College Chapel.

http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/About_Trinity/Chapel/Main_Altar.htm

 

[js97]

People forget that it also comes down to.... wait for it.... COST!!!

Architectural design isn't going to fetch additiona psf dollars at Duffering and St. Clair. Stucco can be quite beautiful if they added additional architectural features, but unfortunately, those add 30%+ to costs.

 

[thecharioteer]

The interior walls of early English churches, which were as decorated with brightly painted frescoes as those on the continent before Henry VIII's Protestant goons, Cromwell's dreary Puritans, and Victorian era evangelical Mock Goths had them whitewashed over, or parged, and much of their interior decoration ripped out were quite lovely.

For local interior stucco in a lovely grey/buff colour, check out Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's beautifully proportioned, restrained, Trinity College Chapel.

http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/About_Trinity/Chapel/Main_Altar.htm

Two local churches which illustrate these two interior trends, U.S. are, of course, the understated St. James Cathedral and the flamboyant St. Michael's Cathedral:

 

[thecharioteer]

Let's also not forget how beautiful stucco can be when used properly:

 

[junctionist]

People forget that it also comes down to.... wait for it.... COST!!!

Architectural design isn't going to fetch additiona psf dollars at Duffering and St. Clair. Stucco can be quite beautiful if they added additional architectural features, but unfortunately, those add 30%+ to costs.

Even at the intersection you name, people expect some design quality or would like to undertake some improvements in the future, even if they're not the height of architectural sophistication. Some cinderblock house or ugly stucco building may end up not appreciating equally in value relative to similar but better looking buildings in the neighbourhood. At the end of the day, people should be proud of their city and invest a lot in its buildings to make living there pleasant and attractive, no matter the area.

 

[adma]

Architectural design isn't going to fetch additiona psf dollars at Duffering and St. Clair. Stucco can be quite beautiful if they added additional architectural features, but unfortunately, those add 30%+ to costs.

Or...maybe more to the point, just leave well enough alone, clean the existing facade up, etc--it obviates the need for *both* "architectural design" *and* EIFS Botox. The most economical solution of all...